What Does Deuteronomy 2:8 Mean in the King James?
And when we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, through the way of the plain from Elath, and from Ezion-gaber, we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew “we turned” shares its root with “face” and “corner,” so the route’s pivot changes both direction and orientation.
THE MEANING
Your movement can continue through a turn: the verse names a route that passes beyond Seir, changes direction, and proceeds by the wilderness of Moab. The turn changes the journey’s facing without erasing the passage already made. Here, turning and continuing belong to one movement.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that changing direction means progress has ended; the route turns and still continues.
THE ROOT
וַנֵּפֶן
vannēfen from panah
GROWS FROM
פנה
p-n-h
To turn, face toward, or direct one’s orientation.
English presents a navigational action; the Hebrew root also names facing, so this is a reorientation of the journey. פָּנִים (panim, face) and פִּנָּה (pinnah, corner) belong to the same root family, linking a turned face with the bend in a route.
ALSO GROWS
panim: Face; presence.
פָּנִים
The face gives turning its orientation: it is what the traveler is turned toward.
pinnah: Corner; angle.
פִּנָּה
A corner is where a line changes direction, giving physical shape to the route’s turn.
THE PATTERN
A journey keeps moving as its direction is redirected.
But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt.And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.THE THREAD
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.The Hebrew command פְּנוּ (penu, turn toward) comes from the same root as Deuteronomy’s “we turned.” Here, that shared turn is directed toward God, joining a change in route with a change in what is faced.
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